Spring Break, Part 3 - Cruise!

The Moores were kind enough to keep our kids for three days so we could go on a cruise. We have always wanted to do this and we decided that since we will have our 10th anniversary this year we should go for it. Since we wanted to do plenty of other things with the kids on our trip, we decided to just do a short one over the weekend. The cruise left from Long Beach Friday afternoon.

On Saturday we were docked in Ensenada, Mexico. It was such a beautiful day. We went on a horseback ride in the foothills above Ensenada in the morning. Everything was green and there were wildflowers all along the trail. We got to see some amazing views of the city and the ocean.

We got back to town then walked around for a couple hours shopping and enjoying the day. We got some fun souvenirs for the kids.

Here is Debbie showing off her sweet new "Gucci" sunglasses. Four dollars!

Saturday night was the formal night on the ship. It was a lot of fun getting dressed up.

Sunday was our day at sea. We played several games on the ship because we really wanted one of these trophies. After several failures, we found a sports trivia contest. It was an easy win.

The cruise was so much fun! We will definitely do it again someday. Of course the best part was the great food...at any time of the day. Each night at dinner we would order 3 or 4 different desserts to share between us. Someone gave us the idea to weigh ourselves at the beginning and end of the cruise...Brady gained 5 lbs and Debbie gained 4.5!

Monday morning we started our journey home...stayed in St George halfway and got home Tuesday evening.

In all, we drove 2590 miles in 12 days. It was a blast and we would do it all again right now if we could!

Spring Break, Part 2 - California

After just two short days in Phoenix, we continued on our journey to California.

We got there Monday afternoon and went straight to the beach.

Hannah and Makaylee enjoying the sun

There is an aquarium right by Cabrillo Beach that the kids love. The touch tanks were open so we could feel the starfish and anemones and such.

On Tuesday we went to Adventure City! If you've never heard of it, this is the place to go if you have young kids. It is a small amusement park with only kid rides. It only costs $14 each and there are never any lines! In this picture are our kids, the Moore family, Grandpa and Vivian.

The little guy next to me is Eli. This ride is called the "Drop Zone" Hannah and Makaylee rode this one 17 consecutive times without getting off. (like I said, no lines!)

They even have a little petting zoo with some very patient animals.

Wednesday night we stayed with David and Jamee in their cute new house in San Pedro. Hannah loved Wii bowling.

On Thursday we headed to Apple Valley to the Moore's (Debbie's sister Michelle and family) They took us on a fun hike in the rocks and the cousins played in a park.

Jonas' new best friend, Leila

I meant for this video to be on top but couldn't figure out how to move it up...oh well.

Spring Break, Part 1- Arizona

It's always fun to reunite with our friends the Risenmays. The kids are such great friends that they seem to be able to just pick up from where we left off on the last visit.

We enjoyed playing Beatles Rockband... every night :)

So happy!

Everyone joined in on the fun!

It was tricky getting a picture of all the kids, so here are two of the best shots.

Eli's Deep Thoughts

Christmas-time thoughts from the past few weeks:

Eli singing loudly: "You'll go down in hissstory!"
E: Whose story, mom?
M: What do you mean?
E: It says his story.
M: Oh, no it says history.
E: What's history? .........

E: "Why is snow cold?"

This next one was out of the blue and took me by surprise:
E: What's a soul mean?
M: A soul?
E: Yeah, a soul.
M: Where did you hear it?
E: The song
M: OH, don't you tell a single soul.... (relief)

E: "Why did they laugh and call him names?"

E: "What's holly jolly?"